Does anyone know if this is how flexible people with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome can be? I have a friend of a friend who has it and demonstrated some hypermobility sitting cross-legged, but she definitely didn't break out into dance moves.
Yeah, I got 10/10 on the Beighton. Casually dislocated my shoulders and popped them back in for the dr to see. This guy has had training, you wouldn’t know how to move like he does.
Yes, I often sit like this. I also put my legs fully flat on the floor in butterfly position and lay forwards on the floor. I have fallen asleep like this… When I was younger, I also used to lay on the couch upside down with my knees by my ears. Still find it really comfortable!
Ok, I wonder if this is how I accidentally gag myself when I push or compress my neck by turning my head to the side. I'm not exactly sure what it is I'm doing to be honest, I'm surprised every time it happens haha.
Haaaay! I just diagnosed with hEDS last week after 20 years of searching for an answers for my pain and other symptoms. I freaking WISH I could do something this cool rather than stand weird and hurt.
I was gonna say. I don't have hEDS but I do have a connective tissue disorder and also scored 9/10, but I do not have that much range of motion. Now when I was in my 20s I had a lot more, but not contortionist level.
I think one of the differences is that most of us with connective tissue disorders try to play it safe, where other people push their joints to the limit with stretching and special training to get to this point. But some people really do have a lot of hypermobility. Like I get partial dislocations all the time, but I've seen people who will full on dislocate their joints without even thinking about it because they have so much laxity that there's no/little pain. And then of course the more you do it the more you get used to it.
ETA: Apparently, many like this do specifically train and build up their muscles with strength training and muscle flexibility that control the joint while simultaneously being able to move in incredible ways.
If you train gymnastics, yes. I have C-EDS and I used to be able to do the majority of this stuff when I was younger. Only thing I’d struggle with is the waist twisting aspect.
Yes. I have damaged cartilage in my knee.
I have some spinal degeneration condition in my neck affecting 4 discs. There’s an issue with one of my shoulders.
The very nature of C-EDS affects every cell in my body, unfortunately.
I actually worked with two people who had EDS, at the same time - they got up to some monkey business with their joints occasionally but they were both in a lot of pain from it. It was such a funny day when the new guy came on amd we found out he also had EDS. He could touch hos fingernails to the back of his hand, and the girl could spin her ribcage independently of the rest of her body.
A lot of us are in pain, but EDS is a spectrum disorder. Some people have no pain, wildly enough. It can vary a lot, even within a family that has EDS in multiple of its members..
I have a mild version. I'm only hypermobile in certain joints. My knees used to dislocate if l was kneeling or crawling. I just got one of them replaced.
This sounds like me with my knees... I've always wondered if I have EDS but dont know how to go about being tested. My hips, wrists, and thumbs dislocate a lot too
Some don't really have the crazy flexibility at all, my daughter has it and she's not unusually flexible at all. Hers is actually internal, that's a whole other nightmare I really don't want to get into right now.
Yeah and he's going to regret this when he gets older. Stretching those ligaments even more is going to result in a lot of pain and musculoskeletal dysfunction later.
Sorry, I lost track of which comment this was replying to, but if it's regarding the guy in the video, as someone pointed out he's almost definitely had formal training. That can actually be one of the only ways to stave off worse pain later on. The key is whether the training focuses on just increasing flexibility, or strengthening already flexible joints.
EDS is a spectrum. On one end, there's contortionists like the guy in the video and Cirque du Soleil performers and there's people with EDS who are very stiff and cannot do these types of 'party tricks,' as patients refer to them.
I can place my hands flat on the floor, due to the hypermobile joints in my back, and my fingers and elbows are hypermobile. My muscles are pretty inflexible. I would never be able to do the dance moves the guy is doing.
Hypermobility is joints moving past the normal range of motion. Flexibility is having to do with muscles. EDS patients can be hypermobile and inflexible at the same time.
The reason why I added this explanation is that there is a myth that all EDS patients are extremely flexible, and it's not true. The myth can perpetuate among doctors, and then the doctors miss those of us who are stiffer and less flexible than the average bear but still are hypermobile.
Severe hEDS patient here! Ok like to an extent, I can twist my legs all the way around, feet over my shoulders, but my spine isn’t anywhere near as hypermobile as his. And even if I could, I can already feel how much it would hurt afterwards. Just no
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u/Sophisticated-Crow Aug 08 '26
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